Helena Meyer-Knapp

Museums and memorials in Japan, Korea and the USA publish visible statements of the purpose behind making the site. This is distinct from the purpose of the events being memorialized.

Japanese sites regularly mention the need to pass the stories on to the next generation. These sites are the most obviously focused on a group of people learning the national heritage. At many sites the Japanese point directly to the desire to foster peace as their purpose.

Koreans most often mention the need to develop respect for the sacrifice and patriotism those who fought, whether for independence from the Japanese, or for democracy or against the aggressors in the Korean War. The objectives in all three kinds of sites are remarkably similar.

In the US, the main World War II memorial like most others exists to honor the sacrifice on behalf of freedom.

Some students in the US who mention war specifically have been at Civil War related sites like Gettysburg. In my observation sessions I never saw student groups focused on the Civil War Memorial on the Mall next to the Capitol building, but it is the Civil War which prompts most explicit official statements about war’s suffering and the need for peace.